The Beginning
by yellow-umbrella579
Summary: Ever thought about Lucien's side to the story of Fable II? Was he always evil? Or did events turn him this way? Read my take on Lord Lucien Fairfax's side of the whole story. This is my first FanFic, so please review honestly! :
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

_The Music Box_

"They're very ill. The doctors tell me they have never seen anything like this before, but Helena and Amelia are strong. I know they'll pull through," Lucien's voice was low with the grim feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach. As much as he told people that his wife and daughter would be feeling better soon, he couldn't help but feel as if he were lying. There was no denying that without proper medical care for their illness, they were never going to be the same. And until the researchers figure out exactly what they are suffering from, there would be no way to give them what they needed.

"You and your family are in my thoughts, Lord Lucien," replied Garrett. Lucien had recently appointed Garrett as the Sheriff for the area of his namesake garden. Fairfax Gardens was a quiet place where mostly Aristocrats occupied, but one can never be too careful with the safety of the Albion people. Lucien nodded a thank you at Garrett and dismissed him from the throne room, readying himself for the difficult day of research that lay ahead. Recently, Lucien had developed an interest in the Old Kingdom, for an old friend of his, Garth, had been speaking of the magic some artifacts were known to possess. Lounging in his cushioned burgundy throne which was, in his opinion, rather too tall for a chair, throne or not, he began thinking of the book he had found and read several days before.

The book was covered in dirt and dust when it was brought to him. It had been found buried in an old cave just outside of Rookridge. Using a handkerchief to clear the debris off of the cover, he came to the realization that this book was no ordinary research book. On the dark brown cover, a very faint imprint of a strange yet familiar symbol was visible. It looked as if the letter "S" had been turned backwards with a line crossing vertically in the middle of it. Two circles sat at both the top and bottom, giving Lucien the thought of two gems placed in order to connect the two separate parts. It was then that he had the realization that he had this same design on the floor in a part of his study.

He had seen it once before while traveling with Helena about one year before Amelia was born. Helena had mentioned how interesting it was and how much she would love it somewhere in the castle. Thinking is was just a silly pattern for a local club or something, Lucien slowly pulled out a pen and paper and sketched it the best he could considering he wasn't much of an artist. Once home, he showed the interior designer of the castle the exotic pattern that he and his wife had found and instructed the man to place it in a large circle in Helena's library. It took about a month, but it was well worth the wait. Helena was ecstatic to see it in her favorite room, and oddly enough, it was in that spot that Lucien was told he would soon be a father. When Helena and Amelia became ill, Lucien moved his studies into Helena's library, the room she loved so much, and began seeing the design every day.

Yes, that symbol held a lot of memories for Lucien, however he did not realize that it may also hold a lot more. He opened the book, stained with time, and found scribbles of a journal, dated back to the Old Kingdom era. Whether this book would prove to be a waste of his time or not, Lucien knew he must give it a chance. Anything that could bring him closer to helping his family was worth the try. The book spoke of many relics that contained different powers, but there was one that jumped out into Lucien's head. It was a music box that the writer of the journal had heard about from his mentor. This music box, when used by someone with magical blood coursing through their veins may grant one wish to the user, though nothing else was known about it.

One wish. One wish was all Lucien needed. One wish and his beautiful daughter would be running through the halls of the castle again, chanting rhymes she had learned from other children. One wish and he would be sitting in the library with his wife as she told him of the latest book she read. Just one wish and they would not be in the infirmary on their, he hated to admit it even in his own mind, death beds. It was while reading that section of the diary that he knew he must find the ancient music box that would grant him the only thing he wanted in this world. His family.

"Lord Lucien, you must come quick," Jeeves, the butler of the castle, snapped him out of his trance. Lucien had still been sitting in his throne, his body hunched over and his head in his hands.

"What's wrong?" He asked, not really needing to. He knew it was Helena and Amelia. They didn't have long, and his heart was pounding through his head with the understanding that this may have been their last day. He followed Jeeves to the infirmary where, to Lucien's great despair, his daughter's breathing was becoming shorter and more difficult by the second. He knelt to her bed, placed his hand on her head, and uttered the last words he would ever say to his darling Amelia.

"I love you, my dear daughter. Don't worry, Daddy will find a way to bring you back," tears flooded his eyes as Amelia took one last breath and left the world to arrive into the unknown area that is death. He did not remove his hand from her long brown hair until several hours later, when she had to be taken from the castle to Bowerstone Cemetery. It was then that he began to pour himself into his research on where the Old Kingdom music box might be. He would explore Albion after reading cryptic hints in many different books, but to no avail.

A week after the death of his daughter, his wife Helena joined her. He did not see her when she went, it had been in the middle of the night, but when he woke in the morning, his world had collapsed around him. They were gone. Both of them. His family that he worked so hard to please and who he loved so much was gone in the blink of an eye. Helena and Amelia were the only two that kept him going in this world, that gave him drive to be better than anything he had ever been.

Weeks passed and Lucien never left his study. The only person he saw was Jeeves, who brought him the lunches and dinners that went untouched. Lucien lost a lot of weight in a short period of time, not able to find the will to live. He continued to stay buried in his books, mostly the journal that spoke of the music box. He had sent out a message to the guards everyday reminding them to keep on the lookout for odd items and occurrences. Maybe, just maybe, he still had a chance to bring back his family, his life. He hadn't moved from his study or seen anyone other than Jeeves for weeks, until Derek, a guard in Bowerstone Old Town was brought to him.

"Lord Lucien, a guard says he saw something that may be of concern to you," Jeeves bowed and waited for a response.

Hesitantly, Lucien replied, "Send him in."

"Lord Lucien, it has come to my attention that two orphans bought some kind of music box from that man Murgo in Old Town. I was covering my grounds when I found them in a clearing, making a wish. I began walking quickly to see just what they were up to, you never know with children these days, and was greeted by a white light. It was almost blinding it was so bright. I then heard one complaining that the music box was supposed to take them to the castle. It was supposed to grant their wish. It was very odd and I knew you would be interested so I came here," explained Derek. He seemed nervous to be around Lucien when no one else had in quite a while. Lucien put down the pen that was in his hand and turned to the guard. Derek held back his instinct to gasp upon seeing Lord Lucien's face. Dark shadows fell under his eyes, which were once bright with love and kindness, but that were now dull and angry. Wrinkles were forming around his mouth regardless of his young age, and he was about 30 pounds thinner than when Derek last saw him. There were a few moments of silence before Lucien spoke again.

"Did you follow the children to where they are staying?"

"Yes, my Lord," replied Derek. He had found that the children, one about 13 years of age, the other almost 9, were living in an area with a roof but no walls. The "house" had been made of wood and had two tattered blankets laid out for beds.

"Find them," Lucien stated quickly, "and bring them to me, quickly."

"Yes, my Lord." 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**The Children**

Children. Lucien expected that if the music box were to be used, it would be by a man well into the prime of his old age. Someone who knew the way of the world much better than some orphan children, but apparently this situation was just as when he thought his wife and daughter would jump back from the illness after a few days, he was wrong then. And he was wrong about the music box.

"What is this world coming to?" he muttered to himself, looking through the old and dusty books that sat on his table. If he were wrong twice consecutively about important situations such as these, what else was he wrong about? Was the world really becoming such a confusing place that even Lord Lucien Fairfax himself didn't know what would come next? He took out the journal from which he first found out about the music box.

_I found today, after trying myself to make a wish on the peculiar little music box, that it would not work with a normal civilian such as myself. After extensive research and a bit of exploration of my own, I then realized that only those with Hero blood throughout their body would be able to use this item as more than just a music box. I can only speculate, however that all Hero's have vanished with the Old Kingdom, making this magical music box all but magical. With the powers unable to reach, I have no use for this relic, and seeing as my stomach pangs with the hunger of a thousand Balverines with but a small rabbit to share amongst each other, I shall sell it to one of the more privileged fellows in town and buy myself a nice meat pie. _

Lucien had read over this part of the journal several times, a small piece of paper always sat in the middle to keep the page. With every word, his heart fell a little more, tumbling far away from his hopes of resurrecting his wife and daughter. He had spent an entire day researching the Fairfax history, but gave up after reaching well beyond the Old Kingdom and not finding a single Hero in his bloodline. (He did however find several cases of insanity, but he did not let the fact throw him off course.) It had seemed all was lost, until one dark afternoon, Garth had unexpectedly knocked on the door of the study.

"Lucien, I may have found something to help get them back," Garth had a low, almost grim voice, even when he felt proud or joyful. The blue Will lines on his skin began to shine, lighting the whole room. He had been researching the Old Kingdom simply for pleasure, but always knew to let Lucien in on anything important. He had been the closest thing Lucien had to a best friend after his wife and daughter had died. Lucien shot his head up in surprise, knowing immediately that "them" meant Helena and Amelia. He pulled out a chair from the corner of the room, placed it in front of a long table that sat to the right-hand side of the room, and gestured for Garth to sit down. Lucien was trying to remain calm, attempting to keep from getting his hopes up, just in case they were to be shot down later. He sat down in the chair across from the one he had grabbed for Garth and sat down slowly, remaining to keep his flying emotions composed. Garth took a seat and waited for Lucien to speak.

"Garth, I appreciate you keeping me in on everything you find. You've been a dear friend to me lately… but I'm just not sure I can handle another let down. I just want to ask you one question before you begin speaking. Do you know whether or not this will actually work?" He hadn't meant to sound angry, but the thought of another heartbreaking let down made him so.

"I am almost ninety-nine percent sure that this plan will be successful, but it will take time. It will take a _lot_ of time. There is much work to be done in order to make it happen," he replied, not at all offended by the anger Lucien had accidentally let slip into his voice. Lucien nodded his head for Garth to continue and paid close to attention to his words. Garth began, "Have you ever wondered Lucien, what exactly happened to the Old Kingdom? How did it suddenly vanish, taking everyone and everything with it? I began my research on the fall of the Old Kingdom and came across something I had never heard of before. It was called the Tattered Spire, and it is believed to have harbored all the Will power of the world. It took quite a bit to find out a lot about it, only a few history books mention the Spire to this day, but I did find that the builder was the last Archon of the Old Kingdom. In order to build the Spire for it to contain the Will that it did, the Archon needed to find three specific Hero's of the time: the Hero of Skill, the Hero of Strength, and the Hero of Will. How he found them I cannot be sure, but from what I understand, after the Spire was completely built, and the Hero's had been found, the Will it possessed was so powerful, it was able to grant the Archon one wish," Lucien's heart began beating after those two words. "Most believe that he had wished for a clean slate for Albion, that he had wished for all immorality to be wiped away. Unfortunately, there had been so much corruption in Albion at the time that his wish destroyed everything: the Kingdom, the people in it, and even the Spire itself. I believe that, by rebuilding the Spire, and finding the three Hero's needed, you will be able to make your wish to have Helena and Amelia back. It may be difficult to find, but I have found a few hints as to the general area," Garth looked to Lucien, awaiting a response. Several minutes of silence passed.

"We will set sail tomorrow," he replied. Garth began to leave the room when Lucien suddenly began speaking again. All he said was, "And thank you, Garth."

Lucien had been thinking about the Spire everyday since Garth had mentioned it. It would be a difficult task indeed, and it would take more time than Lucien liked, but having his family back was worth the risk. Garth had brought Lucien the books with information on the Spire the morning they were to set sail in search of its ruins. They had no luck that day and still haven't since, but Lucien would not give up, and Garth, being as information-starved as he was, wouldn't either.

Upon realizing that they would need a way to know for a fact whether or not they had a Hero, Garth used his Will on the circular symbol- it never ceased to remind Lucien of Helena- that lay on the floor of the study. Lucien was told that if he believed to have a Hero, they were to simply walk to the center of the circle, where a blue light would form all around them. After a moment, the light would either turn green or yellow, green being a Hero, and yellow being a civilian.

"Here is the book in which I learned this spell. If anything different happens, just refer to it, but everything should work out fine," Garth had told him.

That had been two weeks before receiving the news of the young children in Bowerstone Old Town. Could these mere children be the heirs of the Archons dated to the Old Kingdom? If they were two of the three Hero's needed, he would have to keep a close eye on them until he would be able to find the Spire, rebuild it, and locate the third Hero. Perhaps he would take them into the castle, allow them to live with him until the deed was done. He would still keep them after making the wish of course, Amelia would love little playmates running around, and Lucien knew that he would never have the heart to send two children out on the streets.

He began to hear speaking outside the door of his office, indicating that the children were going to be stepping through the door with their tiny, inexperienced feet at any moment. Lucien readied himself for what was to come. He remained composed, almost numb to any emotion. These children could be two of the Hero's he had been looking for, but then again, they could just be two orphan children, and the guard could have made a mistake. Either way, he knew he must find out for sure.

The children stepped through the door, frightened and interested looks on their faces. Lucien's heart began pounding. His throat began to close as the orphans stepped forward, the younger one hiding behind the elder, shivering a bit. Lucien stepped forward and began to speak through the boulder size lump in his throat.


	3. Chapter 3

**First off, I want to say that I'm sorry for not submitting a new chapter until now. Life's been very hectic, but I finally got the third chapter done! Thank you for reviewing! Shout out to Elflady88 and SecretScribe88! I really appreciate the feedback! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter Three**

**Heroes**

"Children!" Lucien's voice boomed through the room, louder and more excited than he had meant to lead on. He spun around from the wall toward the orphans, attempting to make his voice more friendly and merely curious, "it has come to my attention that you have some sort of magic box. May I see it?"

"It vanished, my Lord," it was the elder who spoke first, as was expected. Her voice was high-pitched, filled with the squeak of nervousness. "We were winding it up and we made a wish and then it started to glow and it disappeared," she added disappointed. Her sentence was punctuated at several points, hesitating so as to not anger Lord Fairfax. Lucien crinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

"After you used it?" he asked, looking from the eldest child to the youngest for a response.

"Yes, my Lord," it was the older of the two who replied. She had her dark hair pulled into pigtails, and her clothes looked as if she had been wearing them for months straight. Her shirt was almost a belly shirt, despite the bitter cold outside, with stains of dirt and even a drop of blood here and there. Her long, light pink skirt looked as if it belonged once to a gypsy. Lucien wondered if the girl had gone rummaging through garbage for the clothes. The younger girl's clothes weren't much better than her sister's. At least she wore pants and a long sleeve shirt in order to keep the cold off of her light skin. Her hair was in a high ponytail with a pink band across the top of her head. They were, in a sense, adorable, however it was obvious of the rough times they had been through.

"The man who sold it to us said it was magic," the skirted girl continued. Her voice dropped with the word magic and her eyes lowered to the ground.

"The box is of no interest to me," replied Lucien, letting the girl know that the vanishing of the peculiar music box had not angered or disappointed him. He was after something else. "What's remarkable is that you were able to use it. What was your wish?" Lucien knew the children's wish had been to live inside the castle, but he felt he mustn't jump right into what he truly wanted. _Take your time, Lucien_, he thought to himself.

The girl merely giggled embarrassingly and continued to look to the floor. The younger girl held her hands together behind her back. She never managed to look up other than to look at her sister every once in a while. The girls were shifting their weight almost simultaneously. Lucien cursed himself for not making them feel comfortable within the castle. As the silence grew stronger, he couldn't help but coax the girl into speaking again.

"Well speak up," he laughed lightly. "What did you wish for?" After another hesitation from the girl, she finally spoke.

"To live in a castle, like this one!" she managed. She moved her eyes up to meet with Lucien's, head still aimed at the floor. A small, embarrassed smile crept across her face. Lucien laughed a bit at how much the girl truly reminded him of Amelia. Whenever his daughter had done something she well knew she wasn't supposed to, she would give that look to her father and he would cave every time. Lucien jumped back to the present, and began speaking quietly.

"Well, perhaps that could be arranged. I'm working to rebuild-" he stopped himself. He could not begin to explain nor did he want to divulge his complex plans with these young children. "Well I'm working on something wonderful for which I need individuals with particular talents," he had decided to leave the explanation at that. He waited a few more minutes to speak again, watching the children very closely. Both looked confused, their eyes widened and brows furrowed. The girls looked fleetingly at each other's faces as if to see what the other was thinking. The younger then walked to her sister slowly, the first big movement she had made since walking into the study, and grabbed her sister's hand. Lucien took it as more of a trusting gesture rather than a frightened one. As if she were telling her sister, "if you trust him, so do I." Lucien took this chance to speak again, softly so as to not startle the girls.

"Let us find out if you possess them. Would you kindly step in the circle, please? I promise it won't hurt you," This was the moment. He had never been closer to getting Amelia and Helena back than he was at this moment. His stomach began to turn more wildly than Helena on the dance floor after a few glasses of wine. He thought for a moment he might get ill from all of the excitement, but kept it down so as not to ruin everything. Sweat began to fall down his back as he waited in agonizing anticipation. The girls were hesitant, but finally the older sister led the way into the circle.

"It's okay, Sparrow," she mumbled. The younger sister nodded and walked slowly behind. As soon as their feet hit the symbol, a blue light filled the study, exactly as Garth had described. As the light reflected off the young girls' faces, surprise and excitement found their ways onto their expressions. Tiny blue dots moved slowly from the floor up, one right next to the other in a circle around the orphans. The symbol was glowing brightly with the same color. Everything was going according to plan, which forced Lucien to give a tiny jump of elation. His lapse of composure luckily went missed by the girls who couldn't take their eyes off of the light, which was now beginning to turn green. A frightened look began to creep onto their small faces.

"Nothing to worry about," he told them. "It's true… Your blood… You are heroes!" Lucien had moved closer to the glowing circle, keeping his hands behind his back.

"Heroes? You mean like in the old stories?" said the older girl, sounding a bit more excited rather than scared. She looked at the younger girl, Sparrow, with widened eyes and a small smile. Lucien couldn't help it, he was smiling a little too. He could have found two of the three heroes in one sitting! It wouldn't be long until he would have the Spire built and he would be sitting at home with his wife and daughter. It was as he was imagining dancing with his wife that he felt his hand reach out for the green light. He wasn't sure why exactly he felt the need to put his hand through, maybe to make sure the spell Garth had put on the symbol wouldn't turn green just for anyone, but what happened next was certainly not expected.

As soon as Lucien's hand met with the light, a shock wave flew throughout his body, causing him to convulse slightly before removing his hand. He had immediately shut his eyes to try and focus away from the pain that throbbed in his right arm. It wasn't until a moment later, after opening his eyes, that he had realized the light had changed from bright green to blood red. Still holding his arm, Lucien stared into the red light, confusion and curiosity ripping at his mind. The children were now looking at each other again in fear.

"But are you?" Lucien whispered as he made his way quickly to the book Garth had given him. He began mumbling to himself, not caring what the children had heard him say. This must be somewhere in Garth's book, he had read something about the color change to red, but where? He began to skim through the handwritten journal of Garth's, all the while muttering nonsense out loud.

"My Lord, what happened? What's that light?" The older sister yelled in panic.

"Quiet!" Lucien replied angrily, not realizing what he was doing or what else was being said. He couldn't be distracted. He must find where Garth had written of the red light. After a long moment, he found the page on which Garth had described a dream. Lucien read quickly.

_I dreamt last night of a hooded woman in a scarlet robe. She is blind with pure white eyes and I swear I have seen her before. She stands before me and holds out her hand, waiting for me to grab with my own. As my hand meets hers, a blue light surrounds us, that of which I believe should surround whoever steps into the circle in the study. As I look around, the woman just lets go of my hand and gestures toward the light, which has suddenly turned red. She begins to speak to me, her husky voice echoing off of the walls that seem inexistent. I can still hear her speak as if I continue to be in the dream._

"_Garth, you have done well in leading Lucien to the Spire. I must say the magic you did on the symbol was genius work, however you are leaving out one component."_

"_Impossible," I replied to her. I had put all of my effort into this one spell, considering every last scenario and giving each one a different color for simplicity. _

"_Listen to me, Garth," the woman said. Normally, I would have easily ignored this command, but something about her made me feel as if I truly needed to listen. Something about the eyes that could not see made tingles go up my spine, forcing me to imagine her seeing things other than the present time. She continued on, "there is a blood relative of the Hero of Oakvale that will attempt to stop Lucien in his quest for the Spire. This present day Hero will not be surrounded by a green or yellow light when stepping into the spell bounded circle, but a red as deep as my robes. This Hero will be the one to take Lucien down and to diminish his dreams of ever seeing his wife and daughter again. I have seen this in my visions, in my dreams, and I am now bringing the information to you," her voice began to dim as she finished the last words. The woman then disappeared from my sight._

_I don't believe I will inform Lucien of this personally. I believe that dreams may sometimes be a vision into the future, however the feel of this one leads me to believe that it is simply just that, a dream. So, therefore, I will leave this all as merely another entry in my journal. _

"You are Heroes, but you aren't any of the three. One of you is the fourth," panic began to rise from Lucien's stomach straight to his throat. These girls may be but children now, but in the future, one of them will become what stands in the way between Lucien and his family. He knew he couldn't take that chance, but what was he to do about it? Lock the children away to never see the light of day again? No, they would find a way out if one were truly the fourth Hero. It seemed obvious that there was only one way to ensure that his plans would continue. His revolver shined red in the corner of his eye from the open drawer of his desk. His heart began to pound with fear and revulsion. Killing the children was the only sensible way. Both of them, so he could be sure the Hero were truly dead. He slowly reached his shaking hand toward the gun. He found it hard to believe that he was about to shoot dead two children, but what was the price of two orphans, who probably stole food from the local stalls and shops anyway, for the Fairfax family to be back again, helping Lucien lead the people of Albion? Yes, this must be done. Lucien gripped the revolver and turned slowly toward the children. He aimed first at the oldest sister, whose cheeks were tear stained, mouth turned downward, and hand holding the younger's.

"What's happening?" she screamed, voice shaking with fear beyond anything she had felt before.

"This isn't what I wanted," Lucien replied, loud enough for the girls to hear, but quiet enough to be considered a whisper, "but nothing will stand in my way!" He imagined his daughter, Amelia laughing, Helena leaning in to meet lips, both his wife and daughter dancing in the kitchen, waiting for dinner to be served. His eyes began to fill with tears as he pulled the trigger. The older girl's screams of, "no please," and "don't," filled the room before the loud ear crashing bang echoed off the walls. Screams didn't stop for the younger sister was now yelling out her dead sister's name.

"Rose! Rose!" she shrieked, shaking ferociously. She began to move back toward the stained glass window as Rose lay curled on the floor, blood gushing out from her chest. Lucien's voice was raspy with the pain of what he had done when he spoke again.

"I can't allow you to live either… I'm sorry," he muttered. He then aimed at the younger girl, only nine years old. A little younger than Amelia. Lucien closed his eyes and pulled the trigger once more, sending another loud bang through out the room, but this time, another sound followed immediately after. The sound of shattering glass met Lucien's ears, and when he opened his eyes, the younger girl was gone. Where she once stood, glass lay, broken as Lucien's heart. He ran forward to look out of the small whole in the stained glass window. His eyes fell on a small figure hitting the roof of another part of the castle with a bone breaking thud, and then landing hard on the ground, more than 300 feet lower than where Lucien stood. He swallowed, which was more difficult than usual, and stepped away from the busted window into the fading blue light.


End file.
